Some Sandhill Cranes... Still trying to figure out how to approach these guys as they are so spooky... Next to Tundra and Trumpeter Swans these seem to have the largest agro range of any birds up here. These shots were all taken at 82 meters and that is about how close I can get before I enter their agro range. I just spoke to the farmer who owns the land where I took these pics at and he told me they arrive regularly each year in the spring and fall on his property and he has also given me permission to set up a trench blind so hopefully next spring I'll finally get close to these guys...

Nice shots on the sandhills. I went out looking for them down here this past weekend - there's one spot I went to most likely to have them as they migrate down, but I had no luck yet...it'll be nice to see them back down this way.

The huge flocks all came over about 2 weeks ago about 150km east of me but the reports were of some amazing days of crane viewing... I'm just getting glimpses of small flocks of 100 or less birds... still cool but nothing like at peek. The flocks are also getting fewer and fewer so the cranes should be reaching you pretty soon...

What puzzles me this year are the ducks and geese. Normally right now around mid october we are at peek migration and although I see 4 or 5 flocks a day it is nowhere near what I see at peek where I can see 60 or more flocks just in a morning outing. No idea if they are flying over a bit farther east of us this year just like the cranes or if the peek just isnt here yet.... we have had great weather so far so that is a cause for sure with temps yest and today hitting 20C. still but we have had several nights of frost.. still no days where we have not broken 0 C. yet though.. personally I think the main migration is late this year... one clue to that was an outing I did yesterday and another the day before... up until a few years ago wood duck sitings up here were rare to say the least as their northern range in this area stopped about 200km south of here... in the last few years I have caught glimpses of 10 to 15 wood ducks a year which means more are coming farther north.. they were always the first to leave however being gone by mid september... This year there are still some around as I got some pretty good pics over the last few days.. will post those when I get to them.

So anyways.. what Im trying to say is I think your birds may be arriving a few weeks late this year due to the unusually mild weather up here and farther north.

have to admit I got a bit excited when I saw those crane shots, about ten years ago I came across some Brolgas`s in Northern Queensland. I got a nice sequence on film. I don`t have a scanner at the moment, but lovely bird, similar to Cranes and beautiful to watch.I was in a tent camping nearby, it acted like a hide.

The huge flocks all came over about 2 weeks ago about 150km east of me but the reports were of some amazing days of crane viewing... I'm just getting glimpses of small flocks of 100 or less birds... still cool but nothing like at peek. The flocks are also getting fewer and fewer so the cranes should be reaching you pretty soon...

That's good to hear. We've been doing excellent on passerines this year - earlier even than usual...but the ducks and geese have been a little slow. The blue-winged teal and the occasional shoveler seem to be about all the ducks and geese we've had down here so far, other than our natives.

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What puzzles me this year are the ducks and geese. No idea if they are flying over a bit farther east of us this year just like the cranes or if the peek just isnt here yet.... we have had great weather so far so that is a cause for sure with temps yest and today hitting 20C. still but we have had several nights of frost.. still no days where we have not broken 0 C. yet though.. personally I think the main migration is late this year... what Im trying to say is I think your birds may be arriving a few weeks late this year due to the unusually mild weather up here and farther north.

I wouldn't be surprised if the combination of last year's extremely late winter, and short winter, combined with a slow start this year, didn't move the migration back a few weeks or months even. Last year was one of our slowest winter migrations due to the very mild winter down south, and non-existent winter for us here in FL. Birds that would have normally come down to the southern tip of the state stayed farther up north in the state, because the temps were so high. I am really hoping we don't have another winter like that! It might change migration patterns irrevocably.

Our passerine early and heavy migration so far was at least a good sign. In September, we were getting easy spottings of some warbler species we don't even see very often, and a good month earlier than typical...I had 6 or 7 first-time sightings myself so far in the past few months. Now if the ducks, cranes, geese, etc start coming down, we'll be in better shape this year.